AQA GCSE Synergy Paper 1: Life and environmental sciences Foundation November 2021 question paper 8465/1F

This question is about greenhouse gases.

Methane is a greenhouse gas.

Name one other greenhouse gas.

Greenhouse gases cause global warming.

Global warming can cause a decrease in biodiversity.

What is biodiversity?

Tick (✓) one box.

The differences in sunlight in an area

The range of temperatures in an area

The variety of organisms in an area

Destruction of peat bogs decreases biodiversity.

Give one reason why peat bogs are being destroyed.

Which two human activities can increase biodiversity?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Building more roads

Growing hedgerows between fields

Increasing the use of pesticides

Planting more woodlands

Selective breeding of farm animals

Methane (CH₄) is a small molecule.

A small molecule has a diameter of 1.0 nm.

1 m = 1 000 000 000 nm

What is the diameter of the small molecule in metres?

Tick (✓) one box.

1.0 × 10¹⁰ m

1.0 × 10⁹ m

1.0 × 10^‒9 m

1.0 × 10^‒10 m

Which structure is larger than a methane molecule?

Tick (✓) one box.

A carbon atom

An electron

A neutron

A protein

Figure 1 shows the concentration of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere from 2015 to 2019.

What was the concentration of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere in 2016?

Use Figure 1.

Concentration = ___________________ arbitrary units

Give one conclusion from Figure 1.

In 1986 an accident destroyed a nuclear power station.

Radioactive caesium-137 was released into the environment.

A nucleus of caesium-137 emits a high-speed electron when it decays.

What type of radiation does a nucleus of caesium-137 emit when it decays?

Tick (✓) one box.

Alpha

Beta

Gamma

Figure 2 shows how the percentage of caesium-137 nuclei remaining in a sample changes with time.

After one half-life, 50% of the caesium-137 nuclei remain in the sample.

What is the half-life of caesium-137?

Use Figure 2.

A sample of caesium-137 has a mass of 32 kg.

What mass of caesium-137 remains after two half-lives?

Tick (✓) one box.

4 kg 8 kg 16 kg 64 kg

Scientists investigated the effect of radiation on the dragonfly population near the nuclear power station site.

Dragonflies are insects.

The scientists recorded the number of dragonflies and level of radiation at different distances from the nuclear power station.

The scientists used a transect.

What is a transect?

Tick (✓) one box.

A line that is sampled along

A quadrat placed randomly

A sample at one location

Radiation from the nuclear power station caused the dragonfly population to decrease.

Nuclear radiation is an abiotic factor affecting the dragonfly population.

Which are two other abiotic factors that could affect the dragonfly population?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Air temperature

Other insects

Predators

Prey

Water

This question is about genetics.

Figure 3 shows the chromosomes of a man.

What evidence is there that the person is male?

Use Figure 3.

A combination of genes and the environment affect how tall a person is.

Give one other human characteristic that is affected by genes and the environment.

Do not refer to height in your answer.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disorder that affects the lungs.

Suggest one symptom caused by damaged lungs.

The allele for having cystic fibrosis is recessive, r.

The allele for not having cystic fibrosis is dominant, R.

What is the genotype of a person with cystic fibrosis?

Tick (✓) one box.

RR Rr rr

A man has the genotype RR.

Which word describes the genotype RR ?

Tick (✓) one box.

Characteristic

Homozygous

Phenotype

A woman has a child with a man.

Complete Figure 4 to show the possible genotypes of the child.

Figure 4

What is the chance of the child having cystic fibrosis?

Tick (✓) one box.

0% 25% 50% 75%

Drugs are being developed to treat cystic fibrosis in humans.

The drugs are tested before being used to treat patients.

Give two reasons why drugs are tested.

The drugs are tested on sheep that have been genetically modified (GM) to develop the symptoms of cystic fibrosis.

Give one ethical argument against the production of sheep with the symptoms of cystic fibrosis.

Do not refer to religion in your answer.

This question is about hormones.

Draw one line from each hormone to the function of that hormone.

In one menstrual cycle, an egg is released on day 13.

Which chemical causes the egg to be released?

Tick (✓) one box.

Cholesterol

Insulin

Lipase

Luteinising hormone

Hormones are used in some methods of contraception.

Which two types of contraception use hormones?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Condom

Diaphragm

Oral contraceptive pill

Skin patch

Surgical sterilisation

Figure 5 shows how a baby is formed.

Use Figure 5 to answer questions 04.4 to 04.6.

Name the process happening at A.

The sperm and egg were formed by meiosis.

Meiosis is a type of cell division.

Name the type of cell division happening at B.

At C the cells are stem cells.

Explain how the stem cells become cells that can carry nervous impulses.

Water can be sterilised.

Sterilised water is safe to drink.

Which two methods are used to sterilise water?

Tick (✓) two boxes.

Removing grit

Removing sediment

Using carbon dioxide

Using chlorine

Using ozone

Why is sterilised water safer to drink than water that has not been sterilised?

Salt can be separated from sea water.

Which method uses membranes and energy to separate salt from sea water?

Tick (✓) one box.

Digestion

Paper chromatography

Reverse osmosis

Screening

A student distilled sea water to obtain pure water.

Figure 6 shows some of the equipment used.

Describe what happens during distillation.

The student only obtained 10 cm³ of pure water from 50 cm³ of sea water.

How could the student improve the method to obtain more pure water from 50 cm³ of sea water?

A water purification system produced 28 125 dm³ of water.

This system cost £4500.

Calculate the cost per dm³ of water.

Cost = £ per dm³ __________________

A different system uses solar panels to extract water vapour from the air to produce liquid water.

The solar panel system produces 6 dm³ of water each day.

Calculate the volume of water this system would produce in 15 years.

1 year = 365 days

Volume of water produced = dm³ __________________

Suggest one reason why the solar panel system is not widely used in the UK.

Sugars and water are transported in plants.

Name the tissue that water is transported in from the roots to the leaves.

Students investigated the rate of water uptake by a plant shoot.

Figure 7 shows the equipment used.

The air bubble moves when the plant shoot loses water by transpiration.

The movement of the air bubble shows the rate of water uptake by the plant shoot.

Why is the tap needed below the reservoir?

Tick (✓) one box.

To keep air out of the glass tube

To move the air bubble to zero

To stop water reaching the plant shoot

Students used the equipment in Figure 7 to investigate the effect of temperature on water uptake by the plant shoot.

Draw one line from each variable to the type of variable it is.

Figure 8 shows the results.

Explain the effect of temperature on the rate of water uptake by the plant shoot.

Use Figure 8.

The investigation was repeated with a fan to move the air around the plant shoot.

Predict how an increase in air movement would cause the results to be different.

In one test, the water in the tube moved 3 mm in one minute.

The radius of the tube was 0.5 mm.

The volume of water taken up can be calculated using the equation:

volume = π × r² × h

where: π = 3.14 r is the radius h is the distance moved by the water

Calculate the volume of water taken up in one minute.

A nose spray has been produced.

The nose spray puts a thin layer of gel in the airways between the nose and the lungs.

The manufacturer of the nose spray claims that:

‘The nose spray defends against diseases such as the common cold.’

Why is the manufacturer’s claim difficult to test?

Tick (✓) one box.

A symptom of the common cold is a cough.

The common cold does not spread through drinking water.

We do not know who will get the common cold.

The nose spray was tested as a new medical drug.

In the drug trial some patients were given a nose spray with no drug.

What is the word used to describe the nose spray with no drug?

Tick (✓) one box.

Painkiller

Placebo

Statin

Most medicines contain a mixture of ingredients.

Why do some tablets contain sugar as well as the drug?

Tick (✓) one box.

So that the tablet is more difficult to swallow

To decrease the size of the tablet

To improve the taste of the tablet

Figure 9 shows some of the ways that the body defends itself against infectious diseases.

Describe how the skin, airways and stomach defend against diseases.

The endocrine system releases hormones into the blood.

Figure 10 shows some endocrine glands and some target organs.

Which structure is the pituitary gland?

Tick (✓) one box.

W X Y Z

Which is the main target organ of the hormone insulin?

Tick (✓) one box.

Kidney Liver Pancreas

The endocrine system sends hormones to target organs.

The nervous system sends impulses to target organs.

How does the speed of movement of hormones compare with the speed of transmission of impulses?

Tick (✓) one box.

Hormones travel more slowly than impulses.

Hormones travel at the same speed as impulses.

Hormones travel more quickly than impulses.

The pituitary gland releases hormones, which results in widespread effects on the body.

Explain why the pituitary gland is sometimes called the ‘master gland’.

Figure 11 shows human blood viewed through a light microscope.

Name cell A and cell B.

The image of a cell has a diameter of 3.5 millimetres.

The magnification of the image is ×500.

Calculate the diameter of the real cell.

Give your answer in micrometres.

Use the equation:

1 millimetre = 1000 micrometres

Diameter of the real cell = __________________ micrometres

Figure 12 shows some of the processes in the water cycle.

Name process A and process B.

shows the locations of fresh water on Earth.

Calculate the amount of fresh water in lakes as a percentage of the total amount of fresh water.

Give two ways humans pollute the water in lakes.

Do not refer to litter, plastic pollution or rubbish.

The surface of a lake can freeze if the water at the surface of the lake cools to 0 °C.

Figure 14 shows the temperature of the water at increasing depth in a lake in winter.

Suggest why organisms in the lake can survive in winter.

Use Figure 14.

The middle layer of water is from 7 metres below the surface to 15 metres below the surface.

The temperature at a depth of 7 metres below the surface is 0 °C.

Determine the change in temperature per metre in the middle layer of water.

Use the equation:

Write down the equation which links density (ρ), mass (m) and volume (V).

The density of ice is 920 kg/m³.

Calculate the volume of 2.3 kg of ice.

Volume = m³ __________________

Describe a method to measure the mass and volume of a liquid.